As is known, in order to be able to perform the pressing of parts with various diameters, radial presses are supplied with an equal number of sets of interchangeable tools, which are essentially made up of circle sector section blocks, to be applied to respective radial jaws on the press. To assist and speed up operations of tool changing, a tool holding clamp is used, which is configured to take all of the tools at the same time from a tool holding rack, which are suitable for pressing a tube with a specific diameter; these are mounted onto-the press in just one operation and, inversely, dismounted from the press just as quickly, and placed back in the rack at the same time.
For this purpose, each tool is fitted with a radial pin to be inserted and locked in a respective slot provided in the radial jaws, once the clamp has been placed in the central opening of the machine, when these jaws are commanded to close on it.
At present, however, the positioning of the pressing tool pins level with the slots in the jaws is performed without the aid of any centering system, and consequently requires great care by the operator, so that when closing, the jaws do not cause the pins to break. This is a particular inconvenience in the case of vertical presses, which also require angular alignment of the tools in relation to the jaws, as for the horizontal presses, besides axial alignment. In fact, in this type of press, the tools, which have different lengths depending on the diameter of the flexible tube to be pressed, must nonetheless always be in the center of the press, and so it is not possible to perform axial centering simply by resting the tool holding clamp against the front surface of the press.